West Virginia Bans Wall Street Firms From Contracts Over Bias Against Fossil Fuels

The West Virginia government will be banning six of the nation’s largest financial institutions from future state contracts over their ESG policies and bias against the fossil fuel industry.

The financial institutions that will be banned from state contracts include BlackRock Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., JP Morgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and US Bancorp, according to Politico.

State Treasurer Riley Moore sent the companies a letter on Friday notifying them that they will be placed on the West Virginia’s Restricted Financial Institution List in 45 days, the outlet reports.

The financial institutions have 30 days to respond to Moore’s letter with information showing that they are not boycotting the fossil fuel industry, or they will be placed on the list. If they choose not to respond, the firms will be ineligible to remain in banking contracts with the state.

Moore said that the ban comes in response to a recently passed state law that is designed to “push back against unfair discrimination against our coal, oil and natural gas industries by the financial sector.”

The state of West Virginia relies heavily on the fossil fuel industry as they rank No. 2 in coal production, No. 5 in natural gas production and No. 5 in total energy production, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Moore is leading a 15 state-coalition that is organizing efforts to go after banks that are displaying bias towards the fossil fuel industry.

Last year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last year enacted a law which bans the state from investing with companies boycotting fossil fuels.

Democrat Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear joined the coalition and signed a similar bill into law earlier this year.